Technical Questions for Cabinet Builders

[jimhatley]

I have a few questions related to the options available for people like myself who plan to build a custom cabinet and interface, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Any answers would be massively appreciated so I can start planning the build.

- Ade demonstrated Timeshock! running in portrait mode, so can I assume that will be a standard option?
- Will there be a more 'analogue' control over viewing angle now that the table is rendered in 3D? Ideally I would like to build my cabinet with the screen at 45° (Not traditional, but best viewing angle for my display), but viewing angle options will ultimately define my choice. Ideally, a perspective slider would be great!
- Will there be support for a secondary display for LED scoreboard? That really would be the dream...
- Is there any chance that the audio output could include a couple of cabinet specific options - For instance, allowing music, game SFX & VO to be sent to one audio output, while all cabinet sounds to be sent to a secondary audio output for broadcast within the cabinet itself for a more realistic sound and feel. Another option would be to mono mix each group to either half of a stereo output.

Any other ideas / questions? I have wanted to build a cabinet for Timeshock! since I started playing a few years back, and it looks likely that this version is going to be ideal for the job!

[insx]

It has been stated that 1, 2 and 3 monitor setups will be supported, including a real DMD.

[Ade]

Yes that's correct, 1, 2 and 3 monitors & real DMD via pinDMD will be supported.
Portrait mode support will be standard, we are also going to produce at least 2 cabinet specific views. All the views will be fixed as they are being pre-rendered.
Support for multiple sounds cards is something we'd like to do, but won't be a high priority.

[jimhatley]

Thanks Ade, That's great news. I'll be sure to post the results of the build.

[settingsons]

Hi Ade. Hopefully you will be able to support PinDMD 1 as well as 2. I think Russ sold around 100 of those. Thanks

[Kingpinner]

Ade can you please elaborate more on "at least two views for cabinet"
Does this mean you might have a view similar to that of visual pinball where you cannot see the sides of the cabinet and rear, almost more like a top down view, filling the whole screen?

[insx]

All the full screen VP tables I have are showing some cabinet sides. They are not as pronounced as the test views for Pro Pinball but then I wouldn't want a Pro Pinball view that looks flat like VP.

[Ade]

I'm afraid that we don't intend to offer views like those in VP. We will be offering views that include the cabinet sides, to give the most realistic view - but it will still fill the entire screen - there won't be black triangles in the corners. We are currently experimenting with some new options for cabinet views and hope to share these in the not too distant future.

[Kingpinner]

Sounds good!

[robi]

Hello PP-Team!

I have a idea how you can create 3d pinball (2d).
the thing we understand 3d is we recognize movement in different layers.
for example: first layer is the game area in which the ball is moving. the second layer is the top of the bumpers. and there are walls.

by watching the player in front of a cabinet you can see the players head position if its moving to a side - the engine has to move the top layers to the different side. walls are also prerendered and can be stretched - need big resolution. the layers are only shifted and resolution is sill the same. lightning effects are static on table so they are moved with layers.
the ball is dynamically rendered and can directly change to players head position.
because walls are typically not really high - a little bit higher the balls size - and the head movement is in a small range (50 cm) the layer movements will be in a small range.